Cut-wire Pairs Research Articles

Dual-band plasmon induced transparency metamaterial based on multi-quasi-bright modes

In general, we have proposed an innovative dual-band plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) metamaterial (MM) consists of a metal cut-wire (CW) and a parallel cut-wire-pair (CWP) separated by a dielectric spacer, which behaves as a bright mode and multi-quasi-bright modes separately. The dual-band transparency widow can be observed in the microwave region due to the near-field coupling among the bright mode and multi-quasi-bright modes, numerically and experimentally investigated. It is found that a strong magnetic resonance has been introduced in our PIT structure due to the local magnetic interaction between the double-layered CWs; therefore, an extensive group index over 680 can be obtained. Finally, the dual-band PIT MM properties are investigated numerically and theoretically, using equivalent circuit model (ECM) and coupled oscillator model (COM), respectively.

Broadband Filter and Adjustable Extinction Ratio Modulator Based on Metal-Graphene Hybrid Metamaterials.

A novel multifunctional device based on a hybrid metal–graphene Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) metamaterial at the terahertz band is proposed. It is composed of a parallel cut wire pair (PCWP) that serves as a dark mode resonator, a vertical cut wire pair (VCWP) that serves as a bright mode resonator and a graphene ribbon that serves as a modulator. An ultra-broadband transmission window with 1.23 THz bandwidth can be obtained. The spectral extinction ratio can be tuned from 26% to 98% by changing the Fermi level of the graphene. Compared with previous work, our work has superior performance in the adjustable bandwidth of the transmission window without changing the structure of the dark and bright mode resonators, and has a high extinction ratio and dynamic adjustability. Besides, we present the specific application of the device in filters and optical modules. Therefore, we believe that such a metamaterial structure provides a new way to actively control EIT-like, which has promising applications in broadband optical filters and photoelectric intensity modulators in terahertz communications.

Electrical Manipulation of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency for Slow Light Purpose Based on Metal-Graphene Hybrid Metamaterial

A terahertz metamaterial is presented and numerically investigated to achieve tunable electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) for slow light. The unit cell consists of cut-wire pairs and U-shaped ring resonators with graphene strips placed between the metal film and the SiO2/Si substrate. Through bright-dark mode coupling, the radiative resonance induced by the U-shaped ring is suppressed, and then the typical EIT effect is realized. The transparency window and the accompanied group delay can be electrically manipulated with different Fermi energy of the graphene. By analyzing the surface distribution, the underlying tuning mechanism of this hybrid metamaterial is investigated in detail. Moreover, the transparency peak decreases slightly with the increasing strip width of the graphene layer but completely vanishes as the strip width exceeds the length of the covered U-shaped ring. The influence of the critical index of graphene quality, i.e., carrier mobility on the EIT effect, is considered. The results of this study may provide valuable guidance in designing and analyzing tunable EIT structures based on a metal-graphene hybrid structure for slow light purposes.

The effect of the dielectric layer thickness on the negative permeability in metamaterials

In this work, we investigate the influences of the dielectric layer on the magnetic resonance of the cut-wire pair structure (CWP). The interaction between the cut-wires is modeled through a LC circuit, based on which, the magnetic resonant frequency is calculated. Furthermore, the dependence of the resonant bandwidth on the structure parameters is also determined. By tuning the dielectric layer thickness, we obtained a noticeable broadening of the negative permeability regime of 17%, which represents the enhancement of the magnetic resonance. A good agreement between the theory, simulation, and practical experiment has been demonstrated. We believe that our results should be consequential with regard to the determination of the mechanism behind the wave-matter interaction in the GHz frequency regime.

Three-dimensional cut wire pair behavior and controllable bianisotropic response in vertically oriented meta-atoms.

This paper investigates three-dimensional cut wire pair (CWP) behavior in vertically oriented meta-atoms. We first analyze CWP metamaterial inclusions using full-wave electromagnetic simulations. The scattering behavior of the vertical CWP differs substantially from that of the planar version of the same structure. In particular, we show that the vertical CWP supports a magnetic resonance that is solely excited by the incident magnetic field. This is in stark contrast to the bianisotropic resonant excitation of in-plane CWPs. We further show that this CWP behavior can occur in other vertical metamaterial resonators, such as back-to-back linear dipoles and back-to-back split ring resonators (SRRs), due to the strong coupling between the closely spaced metallic elements in the back-to-back configuration. In the case of SRRs, the vertical CWP mode (unexplored in previous literature) can be excited with a magnetic field that is parallel to both SRR loops, and exists in addition to the familiar fundamental resonances of the individual SRRs. In order to fully describe the scattering behavior from such dense arrays of three-dimensional structures, coupling effects between the close-packed inclusions must be included. The new flexibility afforded by using vertical resonators allows us to controllably create purely electric inclusions, purely magnetic inclusions, as well as bianisotropic inclusions, and vastly increases the degrees of freedom for the design of metafilms.

Achromatic polarization manipulation by dispersion management of anisotropic meta-mirror with dual-metasurface.

A dual-metasurface-based reflective device ("meta-mirror") has been proposed for broadband polarization manipulation, which is composed of orthogonal metallic cut-wire arrays separated from a grounded plane with different distances. The reflective phases of orthogonally linearly-polarized components can be independently adjusted by changing the dimensions of the cut-wire pairs. Benefiting from the fully released dispersion management ability in both dimensions, achromatic (i.e., ultra-broadband) polarization manipulation can be achieved. The suggested approach has been numerically verified in both microwave and optical band. Moreover, experimental characterization in microwave regime has demonstrated the broadband polarization manipulation ability within 5 - 30 GHz. The underlying physical mechanism of dispersion engineering was explained in general equivalent circuit theory and transmission line model.

Tunable electromagnetically induced transparency at terahertz frequencies in coupled graphene metamaterial**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61307052), the Youth Funding for Science & Technology Innovation in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China (Grant No. NS2014039), the Chinese Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (Grant No. 20123218110017), the Innovation Program

A graphene-based metamaterial with tunable electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like transmission is numerically studied in this paper. The proposed structure consists of a graphene layer composed of coupled cut-wire pairs printed on a substrate. The simulation confirms that an EIT-like transparency window can be observed due to indirect coupling in a terahertz frequency range. More importantly, the peak frequency of the transmission window can be dynamically controlled over a broad frequency range by varying the Fermi energy levels of the graphene layer through controlling the electrostatic gating. The proposed metamaterial structure offers an additional opportunity to design novel applications such as switches or modulators.

Broadband plasmon-induced transparency in terahertz metamaterials via constructive interference of electric and magnetic couplings.

Plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) is a result of destructive interference of different plasmonic resonators. Due to the extreme dispersion within the narrow transparency window, PIT metamaterials are utilized to realize slow light and nonlinear effect. However, other applications such as broadband filtering more desire a broad transmission frequency band at the PIT resonance. In this paper, a broadband PIT effect is demonstrated theoretically in a planar terahertz metamaterial, consisting of a U-shaped ring (USR) supporting electric and magnetic dipole modes as the bright resonator and a cut wire pair (CWP) possessing planar electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole modes as the dark resonator. The dark resonant modes of the CWP can be excited simultaneously via near-field by both the electric and magnetic dipole modes of the USR. When the electric as well as magnetic excitation pathways constructively interact with each other, the enhanced near-field coupling between bright and dark resonators gives rise to an ultra-broad transparency window across a frequency range greater than 0.61 THz in the transmittance spectrum.

Magnetic-coupling induced transparency in a planar terahertz metamaterial

In this paper, we demonstrate that an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like behavior is induced by the coupling of two magnetic resonances in a planar terahertz (THz) metamaterial structure, which consists of a U-shaped split ring (USR) as one bright resonator and a cut wire pair (CWP) as one dark resonator. It is found that the EIT-like spectral response is insensitive to the lateral distance between the two magnetic resonators, whereas an on-to-off modulation of the amplitude of the transparency window can be achieved by moving the USR vertically along the CWP. The underlying physical mechanism is mainly attributed to magneto-inductive excitation of the CWP. This investigation may provide an insight of the role of magnetic coupling in achieving EIT-like effect, inspiring interest in the developments of magnetically tunable transparency metamaterial for a wide range of optical devices with switching and modulation capabilities.

Magnetic metamaterial analog of electromagnetically induced transparency and absorption

In this paper, it is theoretically demonstrated that the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and absorption (EIA) can be achieved in a magnetic metamaterial. Unit cell of metamaterial consists of a split ring resonator and an “I” shaped cut-wire pair, which serves as a bright resonator and a dark resonator, respectively. It is found that the EIT effect in metamaterial results from the magnetic interaction between bright and dark resonators. A classical model is also introduced to describe the EIT behavior in magnetic metamaterial, and its analytical results are in good agreement with numerical results. Significantly, by controlling the space separation between resonators, we can obtain the destructive and constructive interferences, and thus observe the transition between EIT and EIA. These results may achieve potential applications on enhancing the nonlinear interaction.

Broadband negative permeability using hybridized metamaterials: Characterization, multiple hybridization, and terahertz response

There is an increased interest to create artificial magnetic metamaterials that show a negative permeability over a wide frequency range. In this paper, we experimentally and numerically demonstrate a broadband negative permeability using symmetric cut-wire-pair metamaterial structures. This finding is based on the second-order hybridization, which is activated by manipulating the correlation between the coupling within a single cut-wire pair and the coupling between neighboring cut-wire pairs. An effective medium analysis is performed to identify the role of the internal and external interactions in the hybridized metamaterials. An extended second-order hybridization scheme is proposed, which describes the electromagnetic response of more complex systems that exhibit an extremely wide band of negative permeability. In addition, the terahertz response of the cut-wire-pair dimer is further explored by scaling down the dimensions of the structures.

Polarization dependence of the metamagnetic resonance of cut-wire-pair structure by using plasmon hybridization

The influence of lattice constants on the electromagnetic behavior of a cut-wire-pair (CWP) structure has been elucidated. In this report, we performed both simulations and experiments to determine the influence of polarization on the metamagnetic resonance of the CWP structure. The key finding is the result of an investigation on the plasmon hybridization between the two CWs, which showed that the polarization of the incident wave was affected. Good agreement between numerical simulation and measurement is achieved.

Electromagnetically induced transparency like transmission in a metamaterial composed of cut-wire pairs with indirect coupling

We theoretically and numerically investigate metamaterials composed of coupled resonators with indirect coupling. First, we theoretically analyze a mechanical model of coupled resonators with indirect coupling. The theoretical analysis shows that an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like phenomenon with a transparency bandwidth narrower than the resonance linewidths of the constitutive resonators can occur in the metamaterial with strong indirect coupling. We then numerically examine the characteristics of the metamaterial composed of coupled cut-wire pairs using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The FDTD simulation confirms that an EIT-like transparency phenomenon occurs in the metamaterial owing to indirect coupling. Finally, we compare the results of the theoretical and numerical analyses. The behavior of the EIT-like metamaterial is found to be well described by the mechanical model of the coupled resonators.

Fano resonances in three-dimensional dual cut-wire pairs

This paper presents an experimental demonstration of pronounced Fano resonances in a remarkably simple, three-dimensional (3D) plasmonic system, composed of two groups of paired cut-wires with different sizes. Theoretical calculations using the Finite Element Method, which are in good agreement with the experiment, are provided to describe the Fano behaviour. The dependence of the Fano line shapes on the separation and offset between the two cut-wire pair units is quantitatively analyzed. The generation of Fano resonances in such nanostructures presents clear advantages over current 3D structures, because of their easier fabrication, and because the optical spectra can be easily and predictably tuned.

Optical-magnetism-induced transparency in a metamaterial

In this paper, we theoretically demonstrate that electromagnetic transparency can be induced by optical magnetism in a metamaterial, which is composed of metamolecules. Each metamolecule consists of a metallic split-ring resonator, as one bright meta-atom (which is optically magnetic), and also a cut-wire pair, as one dark meta-atom (which is optically nonmagnetic). It is found that magnetic resonances occur at optical frequencies due to the local magnetic interaction between ``bright'' meta-atoms and ``dark'' meta-atoms; thereafter, a transparency window emerges upon the original absorption background. The phenomenon is similar to the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atomic three-level systems, and a microscopic picture is given to compare it with the EIT. Furthermore, low loss and slow light in this metamaterial have also been verified. The investigations may achieve potential applications on integrated optical circuits.

90° polarization rotator with rotation angle independent of substrate permittivity and incident angles using a composite chiral metamaterial

We propose a more efficient way to obtain much stronger polarization rotatory power by constructing a composite chiral metamaterial (CCMM) which is achieved via the combination of the cut-wire pairs (CWPs) and a purely chiral metamaterial (PCMM) composed of conjugated gammadion resonators. Owing to the strong coupling between the CWPs and PCMM, the polarization rotation in our CCMM is more gigantic than that of the PCMM. Furthermore, the CCMM proposed in this paper can function as a wide-angle 90° polarization rotator for different substrate permittivity without needing to adjust its geometric parameters. Due to the unique properties, the CCMM may greatly benefit potential applications including designing a tunable 90°-polarization rotator, microwave devices, telecommunication, and so on.

"Cut wires grating – single longitudinal wire" planar metastructure to achieve microwave magnetic resonance in a single wire

Here we present metastructures containing cut-wire grating and a single longitudinal cut-wire orthogonal to grating’s wires. Experimental investigations at microwaves show these structures can provide strong magnetic resonant response of a single nonmagnetic cut-wire in dependence on configuration and sizes in the case when metastructures are oriented along the direction of wave propagation and cut-wires of grating are parallel to the electric field of a plane electromagnetic wave. It is suggested a concept of magnetic response based on antiparallel resonant currents excited by magnetic field of surface polaritons in many spatial LC-circuits created from cut-wire pairs of a grating and section of longitudinal cut-wire. Three separately observed resonant effects connected with grating, LC-circuits and with longitudinal cut-wire have been identified applying measurements in waveguides, cutoff waveguides and free space. To tune and mark resonance split cut-wires are loaded with varactor diodes.

{Demonstrate the Double Negative Behavior of Metamaterial Using the Effective Medium Theory

We fabricated the electric and magnetic metamaterial, and measured their transmission spectra. The electromagnetic response of the combined structure, which consists of cut-wire pair and continuous wire, are experimentally and numerically studied in the microwave frequency regime. The simulations are performed in a qualitative agreement with experiment utilizing the transfer-matrix method. The double negative behavior of combined structure is observed and demonstrated using the effective medium theory.

Effective electric and magnetic properties of metasurfaces in transition from crystalline to amorphous state

In this paper we theoretically study electromagnetic reflection, transmission, and scattering properties of periodic and random arrays of particles which exhibit both electric-mode and magnetic-mode resonances. We compare the properties of regular and random grids and explain recently observed dramatic differences in resonance broadening in the electric and magnetic modes of random arrays. We show that randomness in the particle positioning influences equally on the scattering loss from both electric and magnetic dipoles, however, the observed resonance broadening can be very different depending on the absorption level in different modes as well as on the average electrical distance between the particles. The theory is illustrated by an example of a planar metasurface composed of cut-wire pairs. We show that in this particular case at the magnetic resonance the array response is almost not affected by positioning randomness due to lower frequency and higher absorption losses in that mode. The developed model allows predictions of behavior of random grids based on the knowledge of polarizabilities of single inclusions.

Achieving all-dielectric left-handed metamaterials via single-sized dielectric resonators

We demonstrate that using single-sized dielectric resonators, all-dielectric left-handed metamaterial (LHM) can be achieved in the C-band microwave regime. The single-sized rectangular resonator, operating under higher-order resonant modes, possesses electric and magnetic responses simultaneously, leading to the double-negative resonance behavior. We find that the electric/magnetic resonance can be enhanced by elongating the size of the rectangular resonators along the electric field direction. It is shown that polarization currents in dielectric resonators are the same as conduction currents in cut-wire pairs. Experiments were carried out to verify the designed all-dielectric LHM. The proposed method provides a convenient route to all-dielectric LHMs.